What She Never Knew
by Kat Lee formerly Pirate Turner
Summary: Piper's grief over Prue leads Leo to make a decision that will alter their lives forever. A new look at why Leo accepted the position of Eldership in this story featuring both incest femme slash love and unrequited het love. PrPi, LPi.


Title: "What She Never Knew"  
Author: Pirate Turner  
Rating: PG  
Summary: Piper's grief over Prue leads Leo to make a decision that will alter their lives forever.  
Warnings: Incest Femme Slash, Unrequited Het  
Disclaimer: Piper, Prue, and Phoebe Halliwell, Leo Wyatt, and Charmed are © & TM their respective owners, not the author, and are used without permission. Everything else is © & TM the author. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.

Sometimes she could still feel her, feel her breathing softly beside or underneath her, feel her fingers threading comfortingly through her long hair while she wept, but although some might have thought that that should have brought some small reassurance to her, it grasped Piper's heart with even more pain until it was all she could do just to breathe. Her entire heart and soul ached and had since the day she'd lost her. She knew she would continue to feel this often numbing, sometimes blinding pain until the day she died and could be with her again, and she knew, too, in the time that she was required to linger in this world that had become a Hell without her beloved sister, that Prue would expect her to care for their sisters and protect them.

She did so, but sometimes, like tonight, the pain grew so terrible that she could not think and could barely move, and so she shut herself away from every one else, telling them that it was only Leo who had caused her sadness so that they would not worry so much. Surely, they thought, he'd come to his senses eventually? After all, they loved each other, but little did they know that Piper's love for Leo was nothing when compared to the true love of her life. It was, instead, akin to comparing a dying candle's flame to a raging inferno. It was Prue she loved; it was Prue she had always loved. Her union with Leo had only been the perfect cover scheme for something that she had never wanted to hide but been required, by law and society, to keep strictly undercover.

Not even Phoebe could ever know the truth, Prue had warned her time and again, for she would not understand. No one would understand the way they truly felt for each other, and even now, rather than to bring sorrow and disrespect to her love's memory, Piper stubbornly kept their secret just as she continued to be a Witch and protect their sisters and innocents, like she knew Prue would want her to. Not even Leo knew the truth of their union, or so Piper thought. Little did she know that Leo had always watched over them and done everything that he could to protect them, including marrying her when he knew that she could never return his love in order to give their greatest secret the protection it needed.

On this fateful night, Piper lay with her face buried in her pillow, sobbing. Her body trembled as she sobbed ever more loudly and painfully, her sobs growing into wails that were muffled by not her pillow but Prue's. She had stolen Prue's pillow when no one had been looking and kept it hidden until one of these nights came along, when she could stand the pain no longer without breaking down again. It was easy to imagine Prue's scent still upon her pillow, but this night, she knew Prue was with her, though she could not see or talk to her, yet another of the things that the Council put into effect to punish them for the love they had never asked for but also could never stop.

She felt her fingers twining through her hair and knew the occasional wisps of air that blew across her head for what they were. Though she could not hear her, Prue was murmuring reassuring words, like they would be together again soon, but no time was soon enough to reunite her with her soul mate. "Prue," she whimpered into the pillow, her sobs having drowned out the sound of tinkling lights, "I miss you . . . I love you . . . I don't know how long I can keep this up . . . "

Leo Wyatt stood beside the bed he shared with his wife, his head hung. He had hoped that with Prue's passing, Piper might eventually come to love him, but that was not going to happen. He reached a hand toward her but stilled his instinctual need to touch and reassure the woman he loved. He could only offer so much reassurance and protection as her husband and even as her White Lighter. What she truly needed now, he could not give unless . . . unless he took the offer.

Leo sighed defeatedly, his head hanging once more. He loved Piper and had for as long as he could remember. He had always done everything in his power to protect her, and this would be no different. He orbed up, knowing what he had to do, knowing that, only as an Elder, could he hope to give her back what she needed so desperately and praying that, one day, some way, some how, she would come to understand that it was only because he loved her that he did what he would do.

**The End**


End file.
